Bath Rugby see off Warriors challenge

Bath Rugby won their third Friday night match of the season 6-21 against Worcester Warriors at Sixways.

Like the previous two Friday outings against Newcastle Falcons and Gloucester Rugby it was played out under a heavy downpour, ensuring a demanding workload for the forwards.

The first points on the board came from George Ford on three minutes, Worcester having coughed up a penalty at the breakdown. 0-3.Two minutes later, Ford doubled his tally after another ruck infringement from the home side. Thereafter his boot was a huge influence on Bath's game going forward, forcing Worcester back into their own territory with near-pinpoint accuracy.

On 16 minutes, it was 0-9 after another Ford penalty. The fly-half was steering his side from deep in the pocket because of the extremely wet conditions, but he did so effectively, and always with willing chasers.

Despite the back-and-forth kicking game, Bath were slowly but surely making headway towards the Worcester line, with Anthony Watson in particular effective under the high ball and in attack. When Ford delivered another accurate grubber kick to touch on Worcester's 5m line, the pressure seemed to tell on the homeside, whose wayward throw was snaffled by Matt Garvey. Dummy runner Rob Webber drew in the rushing Worcester defenders, allowing Anthony Perenise the power to dive over and touchdown. Ford's conversion came on the half-hour mark, and took the score to 0-16.

Worcester fly-half Paul Warwick drew it back slightly for his side with three points just before half-time, but momentum was with the visitors as the referee blew his whistle to end the first-half.

Half-time: Worcester Warriors 3 - 16 Bath Rugby

Warwick bookended the half-time break with penalties, his second coming two minutes following the restart after the referee pinged Bath at the ruck. 6-21.

Following this, it was just under 20 minutes until the scoreboard changed again – admittedly a period in which Bath repeatedly and effectively denied the enthusiastic Warriors attack time and again with strong defence.

Near the hour mark, Worcester spilled the ball on half-way and Horacio Agulla, new to the field, pounced on the opportunity, racing away to score unopposed. Ford's tricky conversion drifted wide, but Bath were now firmly in the lead. 6-21.

It was a lead Bath held until the final whistle, the overall power of their forwards, coupled with the savvy abilities of the backline safely guiding them out of any dangerous situations and through to close out the game.